How Much Should a Virtual Assistant Charge in 2026?
If you've searched this question before, you've probably gotten a dozen different answers — $15/hr, $50/hr, "it depends." All of those are technically true, which is exactly the problem. The real answer isn't a number you copy from a blog post. It's a number you calculate from your own situation.
Why "the going rate" is the wrong starting point
Most VAs price by looking around at what others charge and picking something that feels safe in the middle. The trouble is, that number has no relationship to what you actually need to earn. Someone charging $25/hr might be comfortably profitable if they have low expenses and work efficiently — or they might be quietly losing money once taxes, software subscriptions, and unbillable admin time are factored in.
The better starting point is working backward from your own numbers:
- What income do you actually want or need this year?
- How many hours per week can you realistically bill — not work, bill? (These are different. Admin time, client calls that don't get invoiced, and marketing all eat into your week without being billable.)
- What does it cost you to run your business — software, a portion of your internet bill, any tools or subscriptions?
Once you have those three numbers, the math does the rest: add your target income and annual expenses together, divide by your realistic annual billable hours, and that's your rate.
A common mistake: overestimating billable hours
If you work a 40-hour week, it's tempting to divide your income goal by 40. In practice, most freelancers and VAs bill somewhere between 20-25 hours out of a 40-hour week once you account for:
- Client communication that isn't part of a paid task
- Invoicing and bookkeeping
- Marketing, outreach, or maintaining your own client pipeline
- Learning new tools or systems a client uses
Underestimating this is one of the most common reasons VAs end up working full-time hours for far less than full-time pay.
Retainer vs. hourly — does it change the math?
Not really — it changes how you deliver the number, not how you calculate it. If you're pricing a monthly retainer instead of hourly, take your calculated hourly rate and multiply it by the hours you expect that retainer to cover. The underlying math (income needed ÷ realistic billable hours) stays the same either way.
Try it yourself
Rather than eyeballing a number, plug your actual income goal, hours, and expenses into a calculator built for exactly this. It takes under a minute and gives you a number based on your situation, not someone else's.